keybound(3X)

📦
version 6.6_p20260516 · 6 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, fedora 44

💖 keybound(3X) — Library calls 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the keybound page, it's giving niche-but-iconic and I'm obsessed 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

keybound — get the definition of a curses function key code 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <curses.h>

char * keybound(int key-code, int count);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So keybound is an ncurses extension, and what it does is let a curses app grab the value of the string that's bound to the function key key-code 💅 (peep wgetch(3X) for the deets — and if you're on the wide-character API, that's wget_wch(3X) for you specifically 🫶).

By default, those bindings are string capabilities coming straight out of the terminfo database entry that matches your terminal type. no cap, that's just where they live 🌈

Now here's the slay part: your app can override those definitions with define_key(3X), and it can do it non-destructively and repeatedly — like it's pushing new definitions onto a stack. it's giving stack energy fr fr 📚✨

The count parameter is how you access the *n*th most recently defined binding. and 0? that one selects the binding that actually gets used on input. periodt 💅

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

If key-code corresponds to a function key that's defined by the application or by the terminal type in use, keybound allocates and returns a string — and heads up, that string must be freed by the application 🫶 don't leave it hanging bestie, that's a leak 😭

keybound returns NULL if key-code is not positive, or if it doesn't correspond to a key code definition. that's it, that's the whole vibe check 💀

🌈 EXTENSIONS 🌈

keybound is an ncurses extension ✨

💜 PORTABILITY 💜

If you're using ncurses extensions, you should condition your use of them on whether the NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro is visible. fr fr, gate it 👑

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Thomas Dickey 💖

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

  • curses(3X)
  • define_key(3X)
  • keyok(3X)
  • key_defined(3X)
  • terminfo(5)
🦋 quick reminder bestie: NULL means free nothing, a real string means free() it. the way that memory management is literally main character energy 😭💅

and that's the whole page, mwah 💋 this one's from ncurses 6.6, dated 2024-12-28 — yes it's serving vintage but it's still iconic, bye bestie 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from